A day in the life

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Tomorrow, in our continuing VACOC Guest Expert Teleseminar series, Jonathan Bailey of PlagiarismToday.com will be joining us to talk about the scourge of plagiarism on the Web and how you can protect your intellectual capital.If you've ever had your content reused without your permission, you know how frustrating copyright theft can be. Whether you are posting a blog, marketing copy or images on your Website, tracking your content on the Web is crucial to Internet success.

In this free teleseminar, Jonathan is going to show us how we can quickly and easily protect our content. We'll discuss everything from how to license your work, how to track it on the Web and how to stop infringements when you find them. He's going to cover:

* Steps you can take to reduce infringement of your work. * Licensing strategies to let others use your content in a way that will work for you. * Tracking tools for monitoring text and images on the Web. * How to track down an infringer. * How to get them to stop, without using an attorney.

Jonathan is going to share with us the techniques and strategies he has used to stop over 700 plagiarists of his own work and show you how to reduce the time it takes to handle a case of plagiarism to under 15 minutes. This is going to be a very interesting, practical and informative session!

Everyone is welcome so be sure and spread the word. In fact, we could really, really use your help! Sharing the invite is a great reason to post on your blog and by telling others in the listservs and forums you participate in, you become seen and known for being a great resource to others. Feel free to copy and paste anything you like from this post or from the registration page and tell all your biz buddies to come register.

Friday, May 8, 2009

You finally decided to take the plunge – you researched this VA occupation thoroughly, you got a business plan in place, you marketed both online and off, you gave your boss at your J-O-B notice, and you can’t wait to jump in with both feet.You imagine yourself sitting at your desk in your nice, tidy, home office, working diligently on your client’s projects, able to take a break any time you want, no-one standing over your shoulder making sure you’re doing it right.You’re your own boss! Or are you?

If you have a family, then the above picture is probably not realistic. More than likely your day goes a little more like this. You get up with your husband, get his lunch made and get him off to work. Then you get the kids up, dressed, fed and off to school (if they are old enough that is). By this time you’re starving so you sit down to eat before getting on the computer and starting your day. As you sit there and eat, the phone rings. It’s a friend of yours wanting to chat, since she knows that you are always home and it’s only going to be for “a few minutes”. When you get off the phone, you remember that you forgot to throw that load of laundry in the washer this morning, so you run to the laundry room to do that. Then you start folding a load of clothes that have been sitting in the basket for a couple of days. Once you get that done, you really have to put those clothes away – after all, what’s the point of folding them if they’re just going to sit in the laundry room anyway? Then you get into the kid’s rooms and start straightening things in there.

By now, it’s lunch time, so you resolve that once you eat lunch, you are going to sit down and get to work. And you do – but you get caught up in emails, networking, all the other things that capture your attention, and before you realize it, the kids are home from school, hubby is home from work, it’s time to start dinner – and what you wanted to accomplish for the day isn’t near completion! And if you have children that aren’t old enough to be in school, the scenario is even more complex.

So, how can you balance your life as a wife, mother, and VA? Easy – prioritize.

Now, I know that sounds like an easy thing to do, and in theory it is, but putting it into practice takes some, well, practice. Here are a few tips I’ve learned about balancing these three acts in my own life and becoming “my own boss”.

1) Set aside specific times in the day to do specific tasks. For example –get your husband and kids off to work/school, then sit down for 1 to 1 ½ hours and work. The house is quiet so it’s easy to concentrate. Then move on to the next task that needs done. If it makes it easier, make a list of what you need to do and in what order, then check them off as you go.

2) If you do get distracted, get back on task as soon as possible. Don’t say – well I’ve already gotten off track, I might as well continue networking, reading emails, doing laundry, or whatever it is that has distracted you.<

3) Take some time in the evenings after dinner, baths, and bedtime to review what you did that day and decide what needs to be done tomorrow. Make another list if it helps, again listing tasks in order of priority.

4) Enlist your family’s help with keeping you on track. Let your kids know that “from A to L” is mom’s work time, and “from M to Z” is family time. My kids know not to bother me if they see me with my earphones on unless someone is bleeding or dead! And finally,

5) If possible, work for an hour or so in the evenings after everything has quieted down for the day. I find that sometimes that’s when things flow the best for me. And especially if you can’t sleep – why waste that time tossing and turning, make it productive.

In closing, just let me say that yes, becoming a VA is a dream come true, and it is possible to be your own boss. And that dream can still take place even if you have a family that you have to take care of also. With a little practice and perseverance, you will be able to balance both aspects of your life, and live your dream!

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? This class is just for Virtual Assistants. Any Virtual Assistant who wants to take charge of the delegation process, better support clients and who have purchased my Activity & Time Analysis Tool (GDE-37) or are interested in it should plan to attend. Invite your Virtual Assistant buddies! If you know some folks who would like to attend, feel free to copy and paste the contents on this page, and post invitations on the forums, listservs and groups you participate in.

Many clients (maybe even most) struggle when it comes to delegation. When they hire a Virtual Assistant, they expect her to be the expert and to guide them in this process. But many Virtual Assistants aren't taking that proactive, professional role in their own businesses. In the process, not only are they creating a burden on their own clients and not supporting them as fully and professionally as they could, but they are also missing out on opportunities to make more money.

When I created my Activity & Time Analysis Tool (GDE-37), it was to devise a more methodical, "scientific" process for documenting and analyzing where clients were spending their time, how that time was either productively adding to or detracting from their business, as well as what efforts were creating positive returns or negative energy drains. The data is automatically translated into charts which allows the tool to provide clients with a visual snapshot of the business, which is often fantastically eye-opening to them in a way that no other print-out can be. Armed with this information, you are better able to pinpoint support needs, identify problem areas and make more purposeful, meaningful recommendations about where you can get started working together.

Instead of flying blind or passively waiting around to be told what to do (while the client is probably waiting for you to inform them!), you could be taking charge of your role as the administrative expert and identifying exactly what the best level of support is for new or existing clients. This also puts you in the driver's seat when it comes to getting more work from clients and increasing your revenue.

With this call, I want to help Virtual Assistants better understand how they can take on their role as the administrative expert and use this tool to their advantage to provide clients with the professional leadership and guidance they are desperately craving from Virtual Assistants. We'll cover:

Filling your role as the administrative expert

Taking charge of the delegation process

How leading your own processes actually helps clients

All the various ways you can utilize the tool with clients

How to use the tool and make recommendations

How you can use the tool to make more money with clients

I'll also be giving away one free Activity & Time Analysis Tool (a $67 value) to one lucky person on the call so be sure to attend. If you're a Virtual Assistant and you want to learn more about taking charge of the delegation process, if you've purchased the Activity & Time Analysis Tool already and want to know how to better utilize it, or if you are interested in the tool and want to learn more about how it can help you in your practice, this call is for you!

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? This class is open to all Virtual Assistants, small/boutique business owners, solo professionals, solopreneurs and independent professionals. Invite your business buddies! If you know some folks who would like to attend, feel free to copy and paste the contents on this page, and post invitations on the forums, listservs and groups you participate in.

Can you say "no?" Can you set boundaries and ask for what you need? Do you speak up in meetings? Do you let people yell at you? When you are served a cold meal in a restaurant, do you return it or eat the cold food you are paying for? Are your clients treating you like an employee or a collaborative business partner?

If you want to make money and gain respect, you can not be a walk-all-over doormat or a pushy jerk. You must become an assertiveness communicator, which is powerful and free of worry and judgment.

To succeed, you must become empowered to assert yourself with confidence and communication that is appropriate, effective and mostly, respectful. Join us for the "Assert Yourself Today!" teleseminar and learn how to:

Realize the differences between passive, assertive and aggressive communication styles.

When you stand up for yourself and express your honest thoughts, feelings and needs in direct, appropriate ways, you can have win-win results and a whole lotta respect for yourself and from others. Start asserting yourself today by registering for the call at the Virtual Assistant Chamber of Commerce.

About Nancy Stampahar

Nancy Stampahar (Pittsburgh, PA) is a sought-after organizational development consultant, trainer and speaker, with a degree in human resource management, and is the author of "Peace, Love and Lemonade: A Recipe to Make Your Life Sweeter." Stampahar solely owns and directs Silver Lining Solutions®, a consulting, training and speaking firm that specializes in adversity and change management, assertiveness and conflict resolution, empowerment, leadership and supervisory development, sales and team building.

Nancy Stampahar is passionate. She practices what she speaks. True to her company’s name, she believes in silver linings and the possibilities found in every day. Nancy is a resilient individual whose life experiences have shaped her into a wellspring of positive energy, compassion and achievement. She has found her calling and is continually helping people discover the abundance of opportunities within themselves and in the worlds around them.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Well, it's a new year. Time for new beginnings, resolutions, and fresh starts!

This year I am going to narrow my business niche down to bankruptcy attorneys. My first project will be to call the local attorneys in town (all 7 of them) and ask if they do bankruptcies. I know for sure that 2 of them do, I'm not sure about the other five. Anyway, if they don't do them I will be asking for an appointment to meet with them, and then I will show them the income they can receive from processing bankruptcies, with my help as their Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant.

Once that is done, I will be re-working my website to target more specifically bankruptcy attorneys. I will more than likely be enlisting some professional help, since I have no idea what I am doing and I want to put some free downloadable forms on there for attorneys to click on. I also think I need to rewrite some of my content, make it more fresh and appealing.

So, those are my business resolutions for this coming year. I also resolve to post more often here and keep you updated with the results of my marketing strategies!

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? This class is open to all Virtual Assistants, small/boutique business owners, solo professionals, solopreneurs and independent professionals. Invite your business buddies! If you know some folks who would like to attend, feel free to copy and paste the contents on this page, and post invitations on the forums, listservs and groups you participate in.

Has the economy got you down? Do you worry you won't earn enough, but you find yourself giving away free time and discounting your services in other ways? Author Mikelann Valterra, directory of the Women's Earning Institute, focuses on empowering women to earn their worth—even in a down economy.

In this powerful teleclass, Mikelann explores the psychology of why even successful business women undersell themselves and what to do about it. Women who "underearn" deal with complex emotional issues around making money. Mikelann will look at the emotional and financial cost of discounting yourself and your services, and the message you convey when you suppress your fees. She will talk about how to protect your time as well as what people really want to buy from you. She will also explore the hard notion that not everyone should be able to afford you and how this translates when the economy is down. Lastly, she'll discuss ways to feel great charging your full fee.

Learn:

How and why women under-price themselves;

How getting in touch with "resentment" can make you more money;

How to avoid discounting yourself;

How to protect your time;

How to charge your full fee and feel great about it!

... and much, much more!

Be sure to register today to reserve your spot and get your burning questions answered!

Mikelann Valterra is the founder and director of the Women's Earning Institute and the author of the book, "Why Women Earn Less: How to Make What You're Really Worth," and the workbook, "How to Set and Raise Your Rates." As a specialist in earning issues, she speaks and consults widely on how to overcome self-sabotaging beliefs about money. From KOMO News 4 to the Washington Post, she talks about transforming one's relationship to money, and how women can earn at their potential. To subscribe to the free monthly "Earn Your Worth" e-newsletter, go to http://www.womenearning.com.

About Me

I am a virtual legal/bankruptcy assistant who has been in the law field since 1992. I love making life easier for bankruptcy attorneys and their staff. I am a board member of the Virtual Assistance Chamber Of Commerce.
Check out my website (www.shearsvirtual.com) to find out more about me and my business.